The present embodiments relate to the selection of medical images for representation on a large display.
During medical examinations in hospitals, a plurality of representations and/or images may be used to capture (illustrate) the part of the body under examination. Several different perspectives can be represented, for example, by a medical imaging procedure. Different imaging techniques or procedures (e.g. X-ray, computed tomography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance tomography, video, scattering of laser beams, etc.) are combined, in order to obtain as much information as possible about the patient's health problems. Several images may be used when recorded images are superimposed under various conditions (e.g. before and after absorption of contrast medium) in order to obtain the most high-contrast representation (e.g., using a difference method).
Different medical images are represented on individual, dedicated image reproduction devices. Accordingly, a separate image reproduction device is required for each video (e.g., graphics card) output of a medical imaging system. An X-ray system examination unit may have eight or even more image reproduction devices in an examination room, including color displays for echocardiogram (ECG) and ultrasound.
A solution with many displays is confusing, inflexible and not easy to scale up. The publication “New Display Solutions for the Image-Centric Era of Healthcare” by S. Bonfiglio and L. Albani in SID Symposium Digest of Technical Papers—May 2007—Volume 38, Issue 1, pp. 123-126 discloses the representation of a plurality of medical images on a large display. The display is used to manage the examination with one display per examination unit. The publication discloses an input device by which images to be displayed on a large display can be selected from a plurality of possible medical images. The input device (tablet PC) has a display, which includes a first region with images that can be selected and a second region in which the images represented on the large display are shown. By moving an image from the first region to the second region, the image is selected and it is then represented on the large display.
With a plurality of images or image streams it is not always easy to arrange these optimally on a large display. The arrangement would generally have to be carried out by the physician because this must also be carried out according to medical criteria.